
A TREATISE 



ART OF FLYING, 

BY MECHANICAL MEANS; 

WITH j( 

L FULL -EXPLANATION OP THE NATURAL 

PRINCIPLES BY WHICH BIRDS 

ARE ENABLED TO FLY: 



INSTRUCTIONS . AND. BLANS. : ;•• 
j?or making'* i^^fc fi*yiTfc,<iWs} W wakca 

A MAN MAY Sit", AND, BY WORKING A^MAM. 
LEVER, CAtJSE HI»ISE#F TO* ASOiyjD, ANB 
SOAR THR8PGH THE'ALR. ' ' 



ILLijSJ^^TED' 1^TH° PLATE3. 



BY THOMAS WALKER, 

Portrait Painter, Hull. 



NEW-YORK; 



PRINTED AND SOLD BY SAMTTEL WOOD, 

AT THE JITTENIIE BOOK-STORE., 

NO, 85T, PEABL-STRFtfT. 



6 k * 



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THE RIGHT HON. 



THE American publisher of this Treatise h 
been induced to reprint it, not from a belief in tht 
importance or practicability of becoming aerial 
voyagers, but from an opinion, that the ingenuity 

/rf.ajgumen^.andthe information it contains, are 
*irthy.iif ifrfcef antf jb^tjia^have a ten, 
dencyto.^uipate humanjty and tenderness to- 

.;^ .the inferior orders'of Creation. Should it , 

:Wo*nd;;to>*#ote fnfe'^t^will not con- ' 

sider his labours lost. 



JAN 1 



$^@©@@@ 



■*■!■ ■», ■■.,■■—... 



EARL STANHOPE. 



MY LORD, 

AS far as an obscure individual like my- 
self can judge of exalted characters, T am induced, 
in unison with public opinion, to hold a belief 
that your lordship is possessed, in a very superior 
degree, both of genius and a knowledge of the 
sciences ; as well as a known predilection for ev- 
ery thing that is calculated to improve and ex- 
tend the mechanic arts, or to meliorate the condi- 
tion of mankind. 

To acknowledge also that your lordship fe 
equally pre-eminent in the senate, is but paving a 
tribute which is very justly due to your patriot- 
ism, and the great exertions which you have made 
in advocating the cause of humanity. EveTy 
friend to his country must hold in grateful remem-. 
brance, the energetic and manly opposition which 
your lordship evinced to prevent the commence- 
ment of a war more undefined in its object, more 
inefficient, and more direful and ruinous in its con- 
sequences to our countiy, than any war it was 
ever madly and unjustly plunged into. 
i # 



t 






My countrymen have now great cause also t» 
remember, with indignation and deep regret, that, 
in return for your opposition to the origin of those 
baneful effects, which your lordship clearly fore- 
told, and are now but too severely felt ; in return 
for your wise counsels, and patriotic zeal, your 
lordship met with every coarse insult and con- 
tumely, which blind folly and malice could sug- 
gest But your lordship has this inestimable con- 
eolation, that your life has been most honourably 
engaged ; not with the savage arts of murder ; net 
with the burning of towns, and the destruction of 
their unoffending and defenceless inhabitants ; not 
with the filling of Europe with miserable widows 
and orphans; not with the ruin of manufactures 
and commerce, and the violation of the sacred 
constitutional rights and liberties of your country- 
men 5 not with the low, base, and contemptible arts 
of any corrupt and venal faction ; not with the 
arts of tyranny and oppression, or force and 
fraud ; not with the machiavelian arts ; but with 
the noble arts which are conducive to peace, civ- 
ilization, and the convenience and happiness of 
mankind, 

Had I invented a diabolical engine that would 
effectually have swept off from the earth a con- 
siderable portion of its unwary inhabitants, I 
should never have thought of addressing your 
lordship ; I must have sought patronage from 
another quarter; but considering the subject of 
this work, I thought no one was more able than 
your lordship to form a just estimation of its merits i 




I have, th 

it to you ; flattering myself that the theory it 
contains, will be honoured with your lordship's 
approbation, which will greatly contribute to the 
pleasure of, my lord, 

Tour lordship's humble Servant, 



THOMAS WALKER, 



Rv.ll, Fib. 1810. 










i 



PREFACE. 



I am laying before the public a treatise upoa a 
subject, perhaps, as extraordinary in its nature as 
any thing that has lately come before them ; and 
»fter a candid perusal, should it meet with ap- 
probation from the friends to arts and sciences, 
my utmost pride will be gratified. The flight of 
birds, although so common and familiar to our 
sight, is certainly as great a phenomenon as any 
in the creation ; and artificial flying, when ac- 
complished, may be considered as one of the 
greatest wonders of the mechanic arts ; which I 
firmly believe attainable upon the plan I have 
suggested. 

In this little work, I have shewn that birds' 
wings do not increase their expansion in exact 
ratio with the increased specific gravity of their 
bodies ; I have given a demonstration of the cause 
of the projectile motion of birds, the discovery of 
a true knowledge of which has bid defiance to 
philosophers in all ages ; which, with other dis- 
coveries, I trust will prove that I have given con- 
sistency to what henceforth may be denominated 
the science of flying, and which may alone be 
deemed of considerable importance to science, 
had nothing more than that been brought forward j 
but as I have gone much further, and have ad-, 
vanced arguments, and given plans to render the 
art of flying practicable, the importance pf this 



* 



little treatise becomes obvious, more particularly 
so if we take into consideration the various pur- 
poses to which artificial flyiug may be applied. 

When my work was just ready for the press, 
I was much suprised at the account a friend gave 
me of what he had seen that day upon flying, in 
a monthly journal. I immediately procured a 
sight of it, and found it to be an ingenious paper, 
written by Sir George Caley ; and I own I was as- 
tonished at the perusal. I conceived it to be very 
extraordinary, that two persons, not having the 
least knowledge of each other, should be publish- 
ing their thoughts at the same time, upon such a 
subject ; nor was I less surprised to find the sub- 
ject tieated of there, in a manner so rational, and 
far superior to any thing I had ever seen before. 
From what Sir George has thought, and the cal- 
culations he has made upon the subject, he is so 
sanguine in his belief, that flying will be effected, 
as to say, in one part of his paper, as follows : 
" I feel perfectly confident, however, that this 
noble art will soon be brought home to man's gen- 
eral convenience, and that we shall be able to 
transport ourselves and families, and their goods 
and chattels, more securely by air than by water, 
and with a velocity of from 20 to 100 miles per 
hour." Vide Nicholson's Journal, for Novem- 
ber, 1809. 

For my own part, whatever reason I may have 
to be sanguine of success, I have made a resolu- 
tion to suppress in my work, every thought that 
confidence could suggest, beyond what I could 
give demonstration of, along with the clearest di- 



rections how to attain the end in view ; thereby 
putting it out of the power of critics to say that 
the principles of my theory have not a good 
foundation. 

Notwithstanding, from the novelty and singular- 
ity of the subject, I do expect to meet with a good 
deal of railery and sarcasm ; the wits will tell me 
that 1 am flighty, and the more serious andieavy 
part of mankind, who are too ponderous foi^uch 
aerial flights, will express a disapprobation^ my 
scheme ; but I do not write for such folks, my 
sole aim is to deliver my thoughts to the public, 
in hopes that men of genius and science may 
turn their attention to a subject that may not be- 
fore now have attracted their notice, that, by 
their aid and assistance, the art may be brought 
into practice ; and as this country stands unrival- 
led in arts, I hope we shall not be long without a 
society for the encouragement of the art of flying. 
Columbus was laughed at when he talked of a 
continent beyond the Atlantic ; but flighty as he 
might appear, he found it ; and wise men lost it ! 





DESCRIPTION 



THE PLATES. 



THE SECTION OF THE CAR. 

No. 1. a The right wing.— b One of the side rails 
upon which the wing must work with two joints to admit 
of a vertical motion, for no other motion can answer the 
purpose, c c The two cross bars which hold the side rails 
together.— d Half of the tail.— e The back rib, fixed to 
the middle of the hinder cross bar, and then brought 
down to the bottom of the middle rib.-/ The middle 
nb, fixed to the two side rails, and bended down three 
feet below, to form the bottom of the car.— ^ One of the 
fore ribs, fixed to the fore corner of the carbon the ri^ht 
side, and then to the back rib at the bottom.— A The up- 
right lever, fixed into the crank, to move the wings with 
j Ihe axis for the crank to work upon, which must be 
placed two feet nine inches below the top ed-^e of the 
car.— //Two iron rods two feet nine inches lone; to 
unite, the inner ends of the wings to the ends of the 
crank head.— A; Ivvo oblique prongs to be fixed to the 
back nb, projecting forward, with the points twenty 
inches asunder, and fifteen inches below the crank when 
it stands in a level direction. They are to keep extend- 
ed the lore part of the bottom of the car, so as to admit 
of room for the crank head to work up and down.— /The 
crank, two feet six inches long ; this causes the wings to 
strike up and down, by means of the man working the 



if 



I I 







fi 




lever backwards and forwards.— m The crank head 
hteen inches long —ft The seat for the man to sit up- 
on, fixed to the back rib — <? A piece of wood projecting 
irom the middle of the fore cross bar, to which is fixed I 
head made of cork-wood, and a number of small eords 
t0 be stretched to the two fore ribs, and the prongs at 
the bottom of the car ; in the same manner cords are to 
be fixed all round the car, to support the silk which cov- 
ers the outside.— p p Two joints which fasten the wings 
to the edge of the car. 





PLAJNf Or THE CAR 



IVo. 2. 1 1 1 1 The shafts of the left wing.— 3 2 Th© 
♦ wo side vails which form the top edges of the car, and 
upon which the wings are to be fixed with two joints each. 
3 3 Two cross bars three feet each, holding the two side 
rails together. — 4 The middle rib with its two ends fasten- 
ed to the side rails, bending down in the middle, so as to 
form the bottom of the. car three feet below the top 
rails. — 5 5 The two fore ribs to be united to the fore 
ends of the side rails, and to bend down to the middle 
rib, at the bottom of the car, and there joined to the 
back rib, which must have its upper end well fixed to the 
hiiidermost cross bar. — 6 The seat for the man to sit upon, 
fixed with its front ten inches behind the axis of the 



8 The crank, two feet six inches long. — 'J The head of 
the crank, eighteen iuclies long. — lOThe axis of the 
crank, eighteen inches long. — 11, 12 7\vo iron Tods, 
fixed with joints to the two inner ends of the wings, 
and then to the two ends of the crank head. — IS, 1.5 
Two shafts to give expansion to the tail — 14 Small 
cords to brace the fore shaft of the wings. — 15 Eight 
longitudinal parallel cords, well stretched, to which slips 
of silk must be sewed, each slip about seven inches broad ; 
and the oblique cords, 16, must be well stretched and 
knotted to them at each .part where they cross. — 17 A 
number of small threads, running across the under side 
of the wings at about four inches asunder, to which each 
slip of silk must be attached, that they may be prevented 
from opening more than half an inch from each other 
when the wings move upwards. 

No. 3. A pair of paper wings, ten inches each in 
length, with a tail ten inches long down the middle ; the 
frame or skeleton of the wings and tail to be formed of 
small sticks, about the thickness of a crow quill, and the 



i * 



paper must be fixed on by its edges being naatly pasted 
to the sticks: at the posterior angle of the wings the pa- 
per must have a piece of fine thin cloth pasted upon it to 
give strength to it at the corner. 

No. 4. Represents a pigeon dying from the ground in 
the angle of sixty- 
No. 5. Represents a grebe flying horizontally. 



TUB 



Art of Flying. 



^if^ E + ,ea^n, t ? 1 Several author*, that, in 
different ages of the world, the art of fly n ? 
ha* been attempted by various means, aH o! 
^h,chh avehlthertofaUedofsuccess * ±£ 

we take into consideration the different me- 
thods which are recorded to have been tried 
we cannot be surprised that they have all 

ed fn 'th?f C n' C ° mpared Whh Whatis con < a i"- 
ed m the following pages, they will obviously 

appear to be nothing more than mere whims 
and contrivances, all utterly destitute of the 
true nature and science of flying. 

I am conscious that many of my reader* 
w oha ve never been led I notice ^Te- 
marks that many eminently learned men 
W m ade th j s • ^ ™» 

fhc ft* Slght of tQ r . d P uie at 

treat 1S e upon artificial flying . f or t h ere is 
not a more common saying, when a person 

totl T C g - 6at difficU,fy in hand > < h ™ 

iridl SUCn a Ihino- 10 oo ; ran :li, a i , 

one 



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I 



as for one to fly in the air. I do assure all 
such, that my treatise is not founded upon a 
whim of the moment, but from mature delib- 
eration on the display of nature. The study 
of the works of nature has been to me, dur- 
ing the greatest part of my life, a source of 
amusement and inexpressible delight. The 
natural history of birds has particularly oc- 
cupied my attention, and that enviable facul- 
ty which they possess of flying, has greatly 
excited my curiosity, and led me to that 
study by which I have obtained a true 
knowledge of the mechanical principles by 
which they fly ; a knowledge which I do not 
hesitate to declare has hitherto remained un- 
discovered, although it has been the object 
of the study and contemplation of the most 
eminent philosophers of past ages. 

That great observer of the works of nature, 
Solomon, did not overlook the subject of fly- 
ing, but speaks of it in his book of Proverbs, 
xxx. 18, 19, " There be three things which 
are too wonderful for me, yea, four, which I 
know not ; the nay of an eagle in the air, 
the way of a serpent upon a rock," &c. I 
beg also to remind such of my readers as 
doubt the possibility of flying, that many 
useful and valuable mechanical inventions, 
which are now rendered complete, and be- 
Oome common, would, a century or two past, 



have been treated as visionary and impracti- 
cable ; or had they been accomplished at 
guch periods, their effects would have been 
attributed to witchcraft. I have not the 
least doubt of being successful in the art 
of flying, if I had it in my power to give it 
a fair trial. My invention for attaining the 
art is founded entirely upon the principles 
of nature ; and although these principles 
are as old as the crealion, they have never, 
until now, been properly attended to. How 
much are we indebted to the study of nature 
for discoveries of the greatest importance I 
and from this delightful study many more 
are yet to be expected. 

The love of pleasure is natural to man, 
and to gratify this propensity he eagerly at- 
tends to every artificial entertainment that 
is offered to him ; he resorts to theatres and 
operas, to New-market and other haunts of 
vanity and folly, as if pleasure were nowhere 
else to be found ; at the same time, what an 
inexhaustible fund of entertainment is over- 
looked by all but a few, although constantly 
displayed in the wonderful exhibition of the 
works of nature. 

What a pity it is that the minds of men 
are not more generally and forcibly struck 
with the pure and tranquil delights resulting 
from the universal study of nature. What 



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•I.'. 



riot, confusion, wasie 01 ume, loss 01 money, 
and of health, might be avoided, if this 
pleasing and truly enlightened study could 
be made fashionable. What an infinite stock 
of ideas it would create ; how much it would 
enrich the human mind, and afford matter for 
social conversation and entertainment far 
superior t© the unimportant subjects which 
too generally occupy the minds and tongues 
of men. 

I will now present my readers with some 
account of various schemes which have been 
tried to accomplish the art of flying, and 
shall shew the cause of their insufficiency. 
I shall. explain the natural mechanical means 
by wBich birds are enabled to flyj and my 
readers will then be able to judge how far 
my invention for flying corresponds with the 
natural science, and is thereby calculated to 
succeed. I shall shew likewise the com- 
parative difference between the specific 
gravity of the humming bird and the con- 
dor ; also, the different expansion of the 
wings. I shall compare the weight of a man 
with the weight of the condor, and thereby 
determine the necessary dimensions of a pair 
of wings which would enable a man to fly ; 
and lastly, I will explain an experiment which 
I have made, in order to demonstrate the 
principles.of artificial flying, and give direc- 



tions for making a machine wherein a mart 
may sit, and, by working a pair of wings with 
a lever, be able to ascend into the air, and 
fly with as much safety and ease as a bird. 
Vide plate I. 

During the early part of my life I have 
dissected a great many birds, and since 
studied very minutely the mechanism of their 
wings, tails, and all the parts which they em- 
ploy in flying. 

I have long been accustomed to contem- 
plate a bird as a living machine, formed by 
the Almighty Creator, either to run upon the 
earth, to dive in the waters, or to ascend into 
and fly through the air ; and when I examine 
its various parts, and find such an exquisite 
display of wisdom, in each being formed so 
perfectly to answer the use it is applied to ; 
when I see the effect of the whole, that such 
a wonderfully organized, animated piece of 
matter, can quit the earth and soar aloft in 
the air, it appears to me a miracle, and I am 
struck with admiration. 

It is now almost twenty years since I was 
first led to think, by the study of birds and 
their means of flying, that if an artificial ma- 
chine were formed with wings, in exact imita- 
tion of the mechanism of one of those beau- 
tiful living machines, and applied in the very 
same way upon the air, there could be no 
3 









; 



doubt of its being made to fly ; for it is an 
axiom in philosophy, that the same cause will 
ever produce the same effect. 

It is easy to demonstrate, that a bird is no 
more able to fly than a man, without the me- 
chanical effect of wings ;* therefore, when a 
man is furnished with a pair of wings large 
enough, and can apply them in the same 
manner as a bird does, and with sufficient 
power, there can be no reason to doubt of a 
man being able to fly as well as a bird. The 
machine which I have planned is as close a 
copy of the natural mechanism of a bird as 
artificial means will admit of; and when my 
readers are made thoroughly acquainted with 
both the natural and artificial means of fly- 
ing, I flatter myself they will then be willing 
to acknowledge that my scheme is a very 
rational one, highly calculated to insure suc- 
r.ess in the accomplishment of the art of fly- 
ing, one of the most extraordinary and de- 
sirable arls with which we can be acquainted. 

* Tli,- ostrich, in the torrid regions of Africa ; the 
emu, in tb': extensive plains of Paraguay, in south Ame- 
ri pa, which standing erect, is about seven feet high, its 
legs are three feel long, its thighs are nearly as thick as 
the thighs of a man ; it runs so swift that the fleetest 
dogs are foiled by it ; the cassowary and the dodo, in the 
Molucca Islands; and the penguin, in the straits of Ma- 
gellan and the South Sea Islands ; all thsse birds are a? 
Utterly incapable of flying as a man, none of them brirv.- 
provided with, wings for that purpose 



Although I have, for many years, been 
extremely anxious to bring the machine into 
effect, and am very sanguine in my expecta- 
tions of success, (for I positively assert, that 
flyino 1 cannot be accomplished on any other 
plan than the one I propose,) I, unfortunate- 
ly, have ever found myself unable, from my 
professional avocations and other circum- 
stances, to put it in practice, or I should 
long since have made the experiment. 

Finding, therefore, that to no purpose I 
have deferred, for a long time, its execution^ 
which I deeply regret ; and the prospect of 
the future being not more favourable, I am 
induced to publish my plan, in the hope that 
the lovers of the arts and sciences, when I 
have laid before them a scheme so practica- 
ble, will readily be induced, for the honour 
of science and our country, to contribute to 
the means of bringing it into practice ; and 
~ demonstrate to their fellow mortals ; how 
thev may gain a perfect dominion over any 
other element. 

In almost every nation where arts and 
sciences have flourished, persons have mani- 
fested a wish to discover the art of flying. 
In Rome and Paris particularly, different 
persons, and in ages remote from each other, 
have tried experiments with wings formed ot 
various materials, which have been fastened 



to their arms ; but none of them succeeded, 
there not being strength sufficient in a man's 
arm to enable him to fly with detached wings 
fastened to him, leaving the whole weight of 
his body unsupported. 

Friar Bacon, who lived nearly five centu- 
ries ago, wrote upon the subject, and he af- 
firms that the art of flying is possible ; and 
many others have been of opinion, that by 
means of artificial wings affixed to the arms 
or legs, a man might fly as well as a bird. 

The philosophers of the reign of king 
Charles the Second, were much engaged with 
this art. The famous bishop Wilkin, who, 
in 1672, published a treatise upon flying, was 
so confident of its practicability, that he says, 
he does not question but that in future ages it 
will become as common to hear a man call 
for his wings, when going a journey, as it is 
now to call for his boots and spurs. 

In the year 1709, as we gather from a let- 
ter published in France in 1784, a Portu- 
guese, Friar de Gusman, applied to the king 
to encourage him in the invention of a flying 
machine. The principle upon which it was 
constructed, if indeed it had any principle, 
seems to have been that of a paper kite; the 
machine was in the form of a bird, and con- 
tained several tubes through which the wind 
was to pass in order to fill a certain sail, 



which was to elevate it ; and when the wind 
was deficient, the same was to be effected by 
means of bellows concealed wilhin the body 
of the machine. The ascent was also to be 
promoted by the electric attraction of pieces 
of amber placed in the top, and by two 
spheres inclosing magnets in the same situa- 
tion. 

These silly inventions shew the very low 
state of science at that time in Portugal, espe- 
ciallv as the king, in order to encourage him 
in his further experiments in such an useful 
invention, granted him the first vacant place, 
in his college of Barcelos, or Santerim,with 
the first professorship in the university of 
Coimbra, and an annual pension of 600,000 
reis, during his life. Of this De Gusman, it 
is also related, that, in the year 1736, he 
made a wicker basket of about seven or 
eight feet diameter, and covered it with pa- 
per, which raised itself about 200 feet in I he 
air, and the effect was generally attributed 
to witchcraft. 

Mr. Willoughby, after observing that the 
pectoral muscles of a man, in proportion to 
bis weight, are many degrees too weak for 
flyins, recommends to him who would at- 
tempt the art wilh the desire of success, to 
contrive and adapt his wings in such a man- 
ner, that he may work them with his legs and 
3* 






not with his arms, because the muscles of the 
legs are much stronger. 

The celebrated lord Bacon wrote on the 
subject of flying, and believed it practicable, 
but it seems that he could no more direct 
how it was to be done than any other who 
had written before him on the same subject. 

Tii us much, for the satisfaction of my 
readers, I have thought proper to make men- 
tion of what has been attempted in the ac- 
complishment of this wonderful art ; but 
were I to adduce all that has been said and 
done, at different periods of time, I could 
compile a large volume of that alone, which 
woidd answer no other end than that of curi- 
osity, and to shew that no one has ever un- 
derstood the natural means of flying, which 
is the only knowledge that can guide us to 
the completion of artificial flying, and which 
I hope and trust will be clearJy demonstrated 
in this treatise. 

As I shall have occasion to refer to various 
birds, possessing different powers of flight, 
in illustration of my design ; I here intro- 
duce the history of the candor, for the in- 
formation of such of my readers as may not 
be acquainted with it. 

The condor is a native of America, and 
hitherto naturalists have been divided 
whether to refer it to the species of the 



eagle, or to that of the vulture. Its great 
strength and activity, seem to give it a claim 
to rank among the former, whilst the bald- 
ness of its head and neck is thought to da- 
gratle it to a rank amongst the latter. It is, 
however, fully sufficient for our plan to de- 
scribe its manners, form, weight, expansion, 
and power, we will therefore leave to nomen- 
clalors to decide upon its class. If size, for 
it is by much the largest bird that flies, and 
strength, combined with rapidity of flight, 
and rapacity, deserve pre-eminence, then no 
bird can be put in competition with it ; for the 
condor possesses, in a higher degree than the 
eagle, all the qualities that render it formid- 
able, not only to the feathered tribe, but to 
beasts, and even to man himself. 

Acosta, Garcilasso, and Desmarchais as- 
sert, that it measures eighteen feet across 
(lie wings when expanded : its beak is so 
strong as to pierce the body of a cow ; and 
it is positively asserted that two of them are 
capable of devouring that animal. They 
do not even abstain from attacking man him- 
self; but fortunately there are but few of the 
species. The Indians say that they will 
carry off a deer, or a young calf in their 
ialons, as an eagle would a hare, or rabbit ; 
that their sight is piercing, and their man- 
ners terrific. According to modern authors 



■they only come down to the sea-coast at 
certain seasons, particularly when it is sup- 
posed their prey fails them upon (he land ; 
that they then feed upon dead fish, and such 
other nutritious substances as the sea throws 
upon shore. 

Coudamine says, he has frequently seen 
them in several parts of the mountains of 
Quito, and has observed them hovering over 
a flock of sheep; and he thinks they would, 
at one particular time, have attempted to 
carry some of them ofT, had they not been 
scared away by the shepherds. Labat says 
that this bird has been described to him, by 
those who have seen it, as having a body as 
large as a sheep, and that its flesh is as tough 
and disagreeable as carrion. The Spaniards, 
residing in that country, dread its depreda- 
tions, there having been many instances of 
ils carrying off children. Mr. Strong, the 
master of a ship, relates, that, as he was 
sailing along the coast of Chili, in the thirty- 
third degree of south latitude, he observed 
a bird sitting upon a high cliff near the shore, 
which one of the ship's company shot. — 
They were greatly surprised when they be- 
held its magnitude ; for when the wings were 
extended, they measured thirteen feet from 
one tip to the other ; one of the quill feathers 
was two feet, four inches and three quarters 



in length, and an inch and a half in circum- 
ference. 

Mons. Feuillee, whose description alone is 



tial account of this amazing bird. 

In a valley of Illo, in Peru, says he, " I 
discovered a condor perched on a high rock, 
before^me ; I approached within gun-shot and 
fired ; but as my piece was only charged with 
swan-shot, the lead was not heavy enough to 
bring the bird down. I perceived, however, 
by its manner of flying, that it was wounded ; 
and it was with a good deal of difficulty that. 
it flew to another rock, about five hundred 
3'ards distant on the sea-shore. I therefore 
charged again with ball, and hit the bird 
under the throat ; which made it mine. I 
accordingly ran up to seize it ; but even in 
death it was terrible, and defended itself upon 
its back, with its claws extended against me, 
so that I scarcely knew how to lay hold of it. 
Had it not been mortally wounded, I should 
have found it no easy matter to take it ; but I 
at last dragged it down from the rock, and 
with the assistance of one 0/ the seamen, I 
carried it to my tent, to make a coloured 
drawing of it. The wings of the bird, which 
I measured very exactly, were twelve feet 
three inches (English) from tip to tip. The 
great feathers, which were of a beautiful 



shining black, were two feet four inches lone. 
The thickness of the beak was proportionable 
to the rest of the body ; the length about 
four inches ; the point hooked downwards, 
and white at its extremity ; and the other 
part was of a jet black. The thigh bones 
were ten inches long, the legs five inches, 
the toes and claws were in proportion ; and 
the legs were covered with black scales. 
The little nourishment which these birds 
find on the coast, except when a tempest 
throws up some great fish, obliges the condor 
to continue there but a short time. They 
usually come to the coast at the approach of 
evening, stay there all night, and fly back m 
the morning." 

I now proceed to describe the construc- 
tion and application of the wings of a bird. 
How properly are they formed to fulfil the 
uses they were made for ! The first is to 
expand, and by that means to give the bird 
a secure hold upon the air below it, which 
hold is always in proportion to the dimen- 
sions of the wings. The tail produces the 
same effect. }\~e see that by means.of a 
pair of wings and a tail duly expanded, in a 
perfectly passive stale, and aloft in the air, 
without any muscular motion, a bird procures 
a suspending power, which counteracts the 
(specific gravity of its body, and prevents its 



being precipitated to the ground ; such is 
the effect of the wings and tail when in a 
passive state. 

I will next take some notice of the quill 
feathers, which are replete with proofs of the 
wisdom of the almighty Artist who made 
them. As they were intended to swim with 
in- so light and subtle a fluid as the air is, it 
was necessary that they should be formed of 
the lightest materials imaginable ; and as 
they were intended to strike upon the air 
with great power and rapidity, it was requi- 
site that they should possess, in the shafts, 
great strength with elasticity ; it was expe- 
dient loo, that the quill feathers should separ- 
ate and open, to let the upper air pass through 
the wings, to facilitate their ascent, when 
they are struck upwards ; it was also neces- 
sary that th»y should all shut close together, 
forming each wing into a complete surface 
or web, wheii they are, by the muscular 
power of the bird, forced down, in order to 
give a more secure hold upon the air below, 
and by that means keep the bird up. 

Now if we do but examine the quill feath- 
ers, we shall find in the shafts astonishing 
strength with elasticity, and very little spe- 
cific gravity indeed. The webs of the quill 
feathers are broader on one side of the shafts 
ih.r\n ihp other, which causes them to open 






if 



as the wings move up, 



ut as they 



see how wonderfully complete the wings are 
in all their parts, and how effectually they 
serve all the uses required. 



JL 

fectly vertical direction upon the air below, 
that air being compressed by the stroke of 
the wings, makes a resistance, by its elastic 
power, against the under side of the wings, 
in proportion to the rapidity of the stroke 
and the dimensions of the wings, and forces 
the bird upwards ; at the same time, the 
back edges of the wings being more weak or 
elastic than the fore edges, they give way to 
the resisting power of the compressed air, 
Which rushes upwards past the same back 



which impels the bird forwards ; thus we see 
that by one act of the wings the bird pro- 
duces both buoyancy and progression. 
When the tail is forced upwards, and the 



support the posterior weight of the bird, and 
to prevent the vacillation of the whole. 

Thus having discovered and explained to 
my readers, the natural mechanical means by 

» •' .1 1 ■ 1 !• 1 /I'" jl "111 



1VJIH.I1 UI1U3 C1L\-UH1'JH.111 11 T lilL) lll\* J 1*111 U \^ 

able to see that the plan upon which I have 
formed my scheme for artificial flying, is per- 
fectly analogous to the principles of nature, 
which certainly ought to be clearly under- 
stood, and taken as our only guide, before 
we can ever expect to arrive at success in 
the art of flying ; but with the knowledge of 
these principles, there cannot remain CL 
doubt of sticcess. ' 

When we first think of a man attempting 
to fly by mechanical means, we are induced, 
considering his specific gravity, to pronounce 



known of any bird larger than a humming 
bird, whose weight does not exceed one 



luaciiiii, uiiu wnose uiininuuve n nip mea- 
sure only three inches from tip to tip ; and 
were to be told by some traveller, that he 
had seen a bird with a body as large as a 
sheep, that had wings of twelve feet expan- 
sion, and that it could quit the earth, and 

1. . .1 • •,! •, .1 1 3_- 



AQl-^llU UJi*tS U1V dll 1THI1 1IO IJV/ll^*v/i uu« wvi^T , 

aiul there fly about with as much ease as the 



I 

I 



» 









Marvellous a tale to be credited, fiut as 
we are accustomed to see, almost every day, 
birds of such various dimensions and spe- 
cific gravity, as are exhibited by nature, 
from the humming bird to the common wren ; 
from the wren, through a numerous grada- 
tion, up to the eagle, we can readily give 



dor, in South America, whose existence is 
so well attested that we can have no reason 



iv 'iuuui vi ii , mure especially as we witness 

so vast a gradation in the indigenous birds 
of our own country. I believe, that there 
were iwo of these prodigious birds in the 
Leverian Museum. 



their flight, may tend to remove some preju- 



condor not less than four stone ; now if we 
reduce four stone into drachms, we shall find 
the condor is 14,336 time as heavy as the 

1 ■ 1_» 1 wti m ■ ' mm 



portion of weight t Yet, by the same me- 



overcome the specific gravity of its body 
with as much ease as the little humming bird.. 



But this is not all ; we are informed that this 
enormous bird possesses a power in its wings, 

SO far exr'ppHintr wlmf !c n<»r«»«oQi-ir <Y>i. !(=, ,^>,.*. 



conveyance through the air, that it. can take 
up, and fly away with a whole sheep in its 
talons, with as x much ease as an eagle would 
carry off, in the same manner, a hare or a 



from the known fact of our little kestril, and 
the sparrow hawk, frequently flying oft' with 

a naHrirife. wliirh is npqrlv (Iwco +; ; .-,ec tl-io 



weight of either of these rapacious little birds* 
Let us attend to this subject a little fur- 
ther ; let us consider these wings of the con- 
dor, which, with a mechanical action alone, 



weighing together not less than ten stone, 
which would then be 204,000 times the 
weight of the humming bird ! When this 



to prosecute the art of flying ? particularly 
so, when we consider that a man of ten stone 
weight, in a machine weighing two stone, 
will only exceed the weight of the condor 
one-fifth part ; this is a mere trifle compared 
with the astonishing difference there is be- 
tween Hie huinminsr bird and the condor. 







1 



'■' I 






u 



The condor carries ten stone, with wings 
of twelve feet expansion from tip to tip ; the 
humming bird carries o,ne drachm, with three 
inches expansion ; the common wren is three 
times as heavy as the humming bird, and has 
but one inch more of wing ; a pigeon weighs 
sixteen ounces, which is 256 times as heavy 
as it is, and has only ten tinges more expansion 
of wing ; the goatsucker is forty times as 
heavy, and has seven times the length of 
wing. I could here carry the same obser- 
vations upon other birds to a very great ex- 
tent, but (he above are instances sufficient to 
prove that birds' wings are not multiplied in 
their length in the same proportion with the 
increased weight of their bodies : therefore, 
as a man weighing ten stone, and his machine 
two, as I have already shewn, will only ex- 
ceed in weight one fifth part of the weight of 
the condor and his prey; and as the wings 
of the condor are about twelve feet, suppose 
we make a pair of wings of silk, one fifth 
longer than they are, which will be about 
fourteen feet and a half, I am thoroughly 
persuaded they will be found amply suf- 
ficient, as they will far exceed the progress- 
ive increase of birds' wings. 

By attending to the progressive increase of 
the weight of birds, from the delicate little 
humming bird up to the huge condor, we 



clearly discover that the addition of a few 
ounces, pounds, or stones, is no obstacle to 
the art of flying ; the specific weight of birds 
avails nothing; for by then- possessing 
7vings large enough, and sufficient power 
to work them, they can accomplish the means 
of flying equally well upon all the various 
scales and dimensions which we see in na- 
ture. 

Such being a fact, in the name of reason 
and philosophy, why shall not a man with a 
pair of artificial wings, large enough, and 
with sufficient power to strike them upon 
the air, be able to produce the same effect ? 

I shall, after a few observations, proceed 
to describe how a machine may be made 
with a pair of wings, and a lever to work 
them with, so that any person will be able to 
see how far it is calculated to answer the 
purpose for which it is intended. This ma- 
chine may be considered as a large artificial 
bird, and the man placed in the inside as the 
vital or moving power. All the attempts 
hitherto made in the art of flying, by differ- 
ent persons, according to historians, have 
been mere childish whims, not in the least 
degree calculated 1o insure success ; they 
each made a pair of detached wings, some 
of silk, some of leather, and some of sheet 
iron, and various other materials ; they fast- 
4* 



cned them upon their shoulders or arms ; 
thus equiped, they placed themselves upon 
gome eminence, such as a high tower, or a 
church steeple, then took to their wings ; 
but few of them were fortunate enough to 
escape without some injury. 

It is utterly impossible for a man to fly, 
with a pair wings fixed. to his shoulders or 
arms, with the whole weight of his body 
hanging down, and depending entirely on his 
pectoral muscles for support. These mus- 
cles in a man, are many degrees too weak to 
keep extended a pair of wings of sufficient 
expansion to effectually counteract the spe- 
cific gravity of his body. Let a man sus- 
pend the weight of his body, with his arms 
extended, holding to an horizontal beam by 
his hands, and he will very soon find the in- 
sufficiency of the strength of his arms to 
support his weight. On the plan which I 
have conceived for flying, the want of 
strength in the arms is amply provided for. 
By furnishing a man with a car to sit in, the 
whole weight of his body is supported by it, 
and as he sits much in the same manner as 
if he were rowing a boat, he is enabled to 
bring into action his whole bodily strength, 
which far exceeds the strength of his arms 
only ; and by sitting in such a position, his 
•trength can be exerted with a far greater 



force than in any other attitude whatever j 
he at the same lime gains an additional ad- 
vantage, in this plan ©f mine, by exerting his 
strength upon a lever. 

The two greatest requisites for accom- 
plishing the art of flying, are these ; first, 
expansion of wings large enough to resist, 
in a sufficient degree, the specific gravity of 
whatever is attached to them ; second, 
strength enough to strike the wings with a 
sufficient force to complete the buoyancy, 
and give a projectile motion to the machine. 
With these two requisites combined, flying 
must be accomplished ; and, upon my plan, 
there can be no doubt of wings being made 
as large as ever they may be wanted ; neither 
ought we to doubt of a man's ability, exert- 
ing himself in the way I have described, to 
bring into action as great a degree of strength, 
in proportion to his weight, as the condor is 
possessed of. Therefore, if we are secure 
of these two requisites, and I am .very confi- 
dent we are, we may calculate upon the suc- 
cess of flying, with as much certainty as 
upon our walking. 

When I first thought of artificial flying, it 
occured to me, that it would be of some im- 
portance, to try what effect a pair of winga 
would have upon the air, without any me- 
chanical power to work $iem ; I thought that 




t 



if I were io suspend a weight from beneath 
them, and they should prevent that weight 
from falling in a perpendicular line to the 
ground, they would demonstrate that the 
ide;.s I had conceived of the cause of the 
projectile motion of birds were well founded. 
I therefore made the following experi- 
ment, to which I call the particular atten- 
tion of my readers ; as it positively demon- 
strates the cause of the projectile motion. 
I made a pair of small wings, of fine paper, 
and very small slips of wood to keep them 
extended, and fixed on a tail of the same 
materials, imitating, as near as I could, the 
wings and tail of a bird, when expanded in 
a passive state. I then suspended a small 
weight from under them, with a piece of 
thread, exactly in the centre of gravity ; I 
held them up as high as I could reach, then 
took away my hand and left them flat upon 
the air, without giving any impulse to them 
whatever; and by Ihe weight pressing down- 
wards, the air under the wings became in 
some degree compressed, and by its reaction 
against the under side and the back edges 
of the wings, they mere projected with an 
oblique descent from one end of the room 
to the other, carrying the weight all that dis- 
tance, which without the wings being of this 
particular construction, could not have been 
done. 



1 had cause suflicient to exult in the suc- 
cess of my experiment, which proved to me, 
in a very satisfactory manner, that what I 
had conceived to be the cause of the pro- 
jectile motion of birds, was really the cause, 
and that if I could but give a vertical motion ' 
to the wings, so that they might strike upon 
the air with a suflicient force, they would 
then increase the reaction of the air, and 
instead of being projected in an oblique de- 
scent, totally overcome their specific gravi- 
ty, and continue flying in a horizontal 
direction. 

This is an experiment which any of my 
readers may make trial of for their own sat- 
isfaction and amusement; and that they may 
be better able to comprehend me, I have 
given a representation of it in the plates an- 
nexed. Vide plate 3. 

Another experiment, serving to shew the 
different effect of buoyancy obtained by a 
parachute, and by my paper wings, may be 
tried in the following manner. Take two 
straight sticks, neatly dressed, about the 
thickness of a crow-quill, and each about 
sixteen inches long, lay them across each 
other in the middle, at right angles, and tie 
them fast with a piece of thread ; then tie a 
piece of thread from the ends of ono 




>lick lo the other, so as to secure them at 
right angles ; (hen take a sheet of gauze 
paper, and fasten ail the four corners of it 
to the four ends of the sticks ; but pre- 
vious to this, paste upon the four corners 
ot the paper four small slips of thin cloth, in 
order to give sufficient strength ; then sus- 
pend any small weight by a thread from the 
centre ; let the whole fall from a- height, and 
you vdl see the etfect of a parachute in 
miniature : but this .effect is very different 
from that of the paper wings ; the parachute 
sinks gradually down in a perpendicular 
tine whilst the wings dart forwards to the 
distance of several yards. 

I have met with persons who have boldlv 
asserted that it is impossible for a man to 
exert sufficient strength to raise himself up 
into the an- by mechanical means alone ; bu< 
the rashness and fallacy of such an assertion' 
ir completely refuted and exposed by Mr 
lJegen, m Vienna, who has very lately actu- 
ary ascended ,'/i/ the air, to a considerable 
height, by sittmg m a machine and giving 
action to two parachutes; and had he pro- 
perly understood the principles of birds' 
wings, and considered the astonishing power 
"I the reaction of the air, which may be- 
increased in proportion to any force exert- 
ed upon it, ad infinitum, and possessed a 



complete knowledge of the principles upon 
which it enables birds to fly, he would have 
chosen wings and not parachutes, and might 
then have accomplished flying in perfec- 
tion.* 

There is no doubt, that by large para- 
chutes, worked by a mechanical power, a 
man may raise himself from the ground, to 
a considerable height ; but that .cannot be 
properly called flying ; because, as the com- 
pressed air rushes from underneath the para- 
chutes, to' regain its equilibrium, on all sides 
alike, there will be no projectile motion ef- 
fected, without which there can be no com 
mand or steerage, and in such case the whole 
apparatus will be driven which ever way the 
wind impels it ; I therefore cannot give credit 
to that part of the account of M. Degen's 
performance, which asserts that he flew in 
various directions, although I can readily 



* M. Degen, a watchmaker of Vienna, has invented 
a machine, by which a person may raise himself into tin? 
air. It is formed of two parachutes, of taffeta, which 
may he folded up or extended at pleasure, and the'per- 
sou who moves them is placed in the centre. M. Dejren 
has made several public experiments, and rose to the 
height of fifty-four feet, flying, in various directions, 
with the celerity of a bird. A subscription has been 
opened at Vienna, to enable the inventer to prosecute 
his discoveries. Vide the Monlhlv Magazine for Sep- 
tember, 180? 



f 



I . 



w 



I 



believe in his having raised himself into the 
air, and think that great praise is due to 
him. I do not believe it possible, upon his 
plan, that he could have gone in any other 
direction than with the wind : but with a 
pair of wings constructed, and worked, ac- 
cording to the natural principles of flying, a 
projectile motion is obtained in as perfect a 
manner as buoyancy, both of which must be 
accomplished before we can have the benefit 
and pleasure of flying with steerage, and 
that upon the following plan only, viz. 

Make a car of as light materials as possi- 
ble, but with sufficient strength to support a 
man in it ; provide a pair of wings, of about 
eight feet each in length, let them be hori- 
zontally expanded, and fastened upon the 
top edge on each side of the car, with two 
joints each, so as to admit of a vertical mo- 
tion to the wings, which motion may be ef* 
fected by a man sitting, and working an up- 
right lever in the middle of the car ; a tail 
of about seven or eight feet long, and the 
same breadth at its extremity, must be fixed 
to the hinder part of the car, and spraad 
out flat to the horizon in the same manner aa 
we see the tails of birds. Vide plate 2. 

The grebes, by their manner of flying, 
evince that the most important use of a bird^s 
tail is to support the posterior rveio-ht of th« 



body ; for the Creator having left the whole 
of this class of birds, of which we have five 
different species, indigenous in this coun- 
try, all totally destitute of any portion of a 
tail, they are, consequently, always seen, 
when flying, to have their bodies hanging 
down nearly in a perpendicular direction, 
and appear to fly with great difficulty, (vide 
plate 5 ;) but this impediment in flying is of 
little consequence to them, their organization 
being perfectly adapted to their mode of 
living. They find their subsistance in lakes 
and pools, wherein they are incessantly div- 
ing, and, of course, are not obliged to fly 
uiitiHhose places are frozen up ; when they 
are compelled to flutter off" as well as they 
are able, in search of some spring or swamp 
which is not affected by frost, where they 
find a temporary subsistence until their fa- 
vourite lakes are relieved from a surface of 
ice ; they then return to their former haunts, 
where they again seem quite in their element. 
Here we find a class of birds, owing to their 
want of tails, possessing the power of flight 
in a very imperfect degree, compared with 
some birds : it also may be observed, that 
birds having extraordinary large tails, as the 
magpie, for instance, do not fly in the best 
manner ; none of these birds possess what 
seems to constitute the excellence of flyinsy 
5 



i 



* 



viz. soaring and reposing npon the air ; this 
can only be effected when the weight of the 
body is upon an equipoise in the centre of 
the wings and tail ; each bearing up its due 
proportion, and the expansion altogether so 
large, as to bring the whole weight nearly in 
equilibrium with the atmosphere. This must 
be properly attended to in the construction 
of a flying machine. 

To give a further security to the power of 
suspension, a sail of an equilateral triangle 
may be spread horizontally over the man's 
head, supported by a small light mast or 
bowsprit, at the height of three or four feet" 
above the car ; the sail must be expanded 
and fixed to the mast by a very light yard, 
presenting the base of the sail to the head of 
the car, with the opposite point towards the 
tail, and there fastened with a cord to anoth- 
er small bowsprit; this sail will be a protec- 
tion, if large enough, in case of any accident 
occurring to the machine ; it will then prevent 
the man from being precipitated to the 
ground, in a manner similar to a parachute. 
I have only mentioned this sail, that it may 
be resorted to, if it be found necessary, in x 
long voyage ; the first experiment I would 
try without it. 

The whole of the machine and wings are 
represented in the plates annexed. A coach- 



maker is accustomed to make strong work 
with little weight of materials ; he, therefore, 
would be the most proper person to make 
a machine of this kind. The man must sit 
in the middle, between the wings and the 
tail, so as to be a little behind the centre of 
gravity, for the purpose of causing a little 
preponderance of weight to act upon the 
back edge of the wings ; for if there be not 
in some degree, more wight behind than 
before, when the compressed air is making a 
resistance against the underside and back 
edges of the wings, where it rushes upwards 
again, causing a great reaction, it would, of 
course, elevate the hinder part of the car 
too much. 

The wings and the tail should be made of 
silk, very compactly woven, and as imper- 
vious to the air as possible. The silk which 
the wings are formed of, should be laid on in 
separate broad slips,* and should open to 
admit the air to pass through as the wings 
move up, and close together again as they 
come down, in the same manner as I have 
described the action of the quill feathers, in 

* The tail feathers of turkies laid close and parallel 
io each other, and fast sewed upon eight piece? at strong 
ribband, so as to form the same number of ?\JP9, then ex- 
tended in the wln R and well braced, would perhaps an» 
. «wer the purpose much better. 



the wings of birds, (vide plate 2 ;) although 
upon the experiment being tried, this method 
may not be found so absolutely requisite ; 
for we see flying squirrels, bats, butterflies, 
beetles, flying fish, &c. with wings formed of 
compact membranes, all flying exceedingly 
well. The Madagascar bat has a body 
the size of a rabbit, with wings four feet 
long, formed of entire membranes, and al- 
though so large, it can fly as well as our 
little native bats ; therefore, it is possible, 
that a pair of artificial wings may be formed 
without any valves, and yet answer equally 
well; but this can only be determined by 
actual trial. 

It is necessary to observe, that the car in 
which the man is to sit, must be entirely cov- 
ered on the outside with silk or very thin 
leather ; and along each side of the car, the 
silk or leather must be united to the base of 
the wings, to prevent, as much as possible, 
the air from escaping any where but from 
the back edges of the wings : should that be 
neglected, when the air is compressed by the 
wings being struck downwards, it will rush 
upwards through the car, and thereby fail 
of giving that resistance against the underside 
of the wings, which is necessary for the pur- 
pose of effecting buoyancy and progression. 

I think that {he shafts of the wings and 



tail would answer the purpose in the best 
manner, if they were each of them made of 
six long slips of thin whalebone, dressed ta- 
pering 1o a point, then wrapped together 
in a round form with small twine, from end 
to end; and filled with cork along the inside. 
By making them in this manner, they would 
spring against the air, would be very light, 
and so strong, that it would be impossible to 
break them with the power or weight of any 
person. By forming them as above, we 
Shall humbly imitate the shaft of a quill 
feather, which is composed of a thin horny 
shell, containing a delicate light pith along 
the inside. 

I here recommend my readers to particu- 
larly observe, that a main point in this trea- 
tise is, that they should not overlook the im- 
portance of the knowledge of the reaction 
of the air against the underside and back 
edges of the wings ; for this is what cau?es 
the projectile motion, which is indisputably 
proved by the flying of my paper wings 
across a room ; and which I will further illus- 
trate by the flight of birds, mill sails, &c. 

I have frequently conversed with persons 
about the art of flying by meehanical means, 
and generally found them disposed to treat 
the idea with ridicule ; I have asked them if 
they knew how birds were enabled to fly, 
5* 



and they mostly answered me nearly in the 
following nianner : that birds could fly be- 
cause it was natural to them ; that they were 
covered with feathers, which were such light 
materials as to help them to fly, and that 
their wings are properly adapted for flying. 
This was as far as they could explain, which 
proved that all they knew on this subject 
amounted to nothing. They generally seem- 
ed to indulge an idea, that there was some- 
thing in the flight of birds either supernatu- 
ral or incomprehensible ; but I hope my 
readers will be convinced, by this little 
treatise, that the art of flying is as truly me- 
chanical as the art of rowing a boat. 

I will here further illustrate how flying is 
effected. The air, when struck upon by 
wings, produces an effect by its reaction 
against the underside and back edges, simi- 
lar to that which is caused by the wind blow- 
ing wilh sufficient force against a mill-sail, 
when it rushes off on one side, and impels 
the sail to move ; with this difference only, , 
that the sail being fastened at one end to an 
axis, is made to revolve, whilst the bird, be- 
ing at full liberty in the air, is caused, by the 
expansive power of the air acting with a re- 
sisting force against the back edges of the 
wings, to glide forward in a right line. 



Most of my readers, I think, will acknow- 
ledge the great elastic power of the wind, as 
it is manifested by the sailing of ships, and 
the revolving of mill-sails ; these effects are 
produced by the wind being compressed 
against the sails, from its own natural motion 
and force ; but the effect the air has against 
the wings or sails of birds, is produced by its 
being compressed, with them striking verti- 
cally upon it : and the larger they are made, 
the greater quantity of air is compressed, by 
which means is caused a more powerful re- 
action, and consequently, a more effectual 
buoyancy and progression. From this 
cause, all the birds whose wings are very 
large in proportion t» their weight, are able 
to fly with the least exertion imaginable ; 
whilst birds with very small wings are obliged 
to use very great labour indeed ; this being 
demonstrated by the examination of the di- 
mensions of birds' wings, and their specific 
gravity, and by observing their different 
methods of flying. 

I have often been delighted with the 
striking conviction, that supreme wisdom 
alone, could have so nicely adjusted all the 
various internal and external organization of 
the vast number of different species of birds, 
to their diversified wants and modes of liv- 
ing ; bat it is only necesssry to observe here, 



i 



I 



that all those which are under the greatest 
necessity of flying, are provided with the 
longest and best proportion of wings and 
tails, and are consequently able to fly in the 
best manner ; and those which need them 
less, have them more limited, and are there- 
fore less capable of flying ; as if the all-wise 
Creator had set limits to their powers of 
flight, that they might not go out of their 
respective elements. 

Although I think that a pair of wings 
seven or eight feet each in length, would be 
suflicient ; still if I could make it convenient 
to try the experiment of flying, and were 
not prevented, as I am, by a chain of unto- 
ward and uncontrolable circumstances, I 
would cause the wings to be made of as 
large dimensions as I could possibly move 
with ease. 

I observe among the aquatic birds, that 
the auks, guillemots, divers, &c. have such 
remarkably small narrow wings that they 
would be utterly incapable of keeping them- 
selves up in the air, if it were not for an ex- 
ertion which they are obliged to make in the 
extreme. Their wings are moved with such 
rapidity, as to be with difficulty discerned. 
In this we see the economy of the all-wise 
Creator, for according to their habits and 
appetites they have yery little occasion to 



fly at any time, except during the time of 
incubation, when they have to ascend the 
most inaccessible rocks and cliffs they meet 
with along the sea shore, where they breed 
and rear their young ; all the rest of their 
time they pass on or in the water, swimming 
and diving for their food. 

All the gallinaceous class of birds have 
very short concave wings, which they strike 
with great exertion ; they also, in general, 
have but little occasion to fly ; their food, 
which consists principally of grain and seeds, 
being spontaneously scattered over the earth, 
they are almost constantly upon their legs, 
running about to pick it up, and seldom fly 
but to avoid danger. 

On the other hand, rapacious birds, whose 
appetites induce them to be the greatest part 
of their time upon the wing, in search of a 
subsistence which is very precarious, (as 
every inferior bird, &c. to which they direct 
their sanguinary attacks, from that love of 
existence which God has so strongly implant- 
ed in all his creatures, will use its utmost 
skill and activity to elude its destroyer,) are 
much better accommodated ; having wings 
of large dimensions they can repose upon 
the air, and project themselves forward with 
a gentle wafting. This is the class of birds 
I would copy from in the construction of a 






I 



machine for artificial flying. The kite or 
glead, P, B, Z, (or milvus of Lin.) is the 
best natural specimen that we can find in the 
British ornithology ; this bird has very large 
flat wings, with a large forked tail, and fli^s 
with the least exertion, I believe, of any bird 
in the creation. 

All the hyrundo class of birds are almost 
constantly flying ; they all have bodies of 
little weight, have large flat wings, and fly 
with great ease. The goat-sucker, which is 
a species of nocturnal swallow, is admirably 
constructed for flying with facility. 

As I have mentioned aquatic birds, I will 
here take the opportunity of execrating, with 
all the indignation of my soul, that savage 
and brutal amusement which they bring to 
my mind, and which so many persons fre- 
quently practise and take delight in : I mean 
shooting these harmless and inoffensive 
birds. Many are the parties who resort to 
Flamborough head, for no other purpose 
than gratifying their vanity, by making a 
display of their dexterity in shooting, and 
causing all the havoc they possibly can 
amongst the poor inoffensive birds. Barren 
must be their minds, and callous their feel- 
ings, who can take pleasure in destroying 
these innocent creatures, which are not in 
the smallest degree offensive to man when 



they are living, nor of the least service 
when killed. If these gentlemen could 
eat them when they have done shooting, that 
would be some excuse ; but as their flesh is 
very rancid, these wanton barbarians have 
no relish for their game. I wish their hu- 
manity were as nice as their appetites : they 
would then not find delight in merely shoot- 
ing them for sport and cruelty, leaving them, 
some killed and others wounded, floating on 
the surface of the sea, whilst their helpless 
young ones must consequently perish with 
hunger upon the shelvings of the rocks. 
Such amusements, surely, are not becoming 
rational beings, bnt may give pleasure to 
serni-rationals. 

In the months of May and June, these 
birds, which, during the rest of their time, 
are dispersed over various parts of the ocean, 
are brought by one of the great impulses of 
nature to assemble at Flamborough-head, in 
myriads ; producing a throng, upon a great 
extent of cliff, similar to what we see in 
miniature, in the front of a bee-hive, on a 
fine summer's day, when there is a perpetual 
egress and ingress of thousands. 

A person who has never seen such a sight, 
and is capable of deriving pleasure from con- 
templating the economy, and the works of 
nature, may find an exquisite gratification in 



- 

■ 













to wanton acts of cruelty. Will there ever 
come upon the earth a generation of men, 
who will despise all pleasures that are either 
unreasonable or inhuman ? 

Reason and humanity constitute the only 
permanent basis of all human happiness, 
and the real honour and true glory of man ! 
without which he is but a compound of folly 
and madness, and is too often a vile mischiev- 
ous brute. By a disregard and contempt of 
these two divine guides, families and nations 
become distracted, and are made miserable, 
as we have too amply witnessed in the deplo- 



»«p^.^ «.»«v. niviv^u Diaic Willi WHICH JHUIOUC 

has been so long afflicted, where the appetite 
of the cannibal has only been wanting to 
complete the brutality of civilized nations. 
But I am departing too muc : i from my origi- 
nal subject ; I will withdraw my pen from 
this sickening view of poor, frail, erring 
hi .nan nature! 

After having described how to construct 
a machine to fly in, which, like the swift, or 



have an ele\ ■ ' n to rise from ; it becomes 
necessary that I should give directions how 
it may be made to ascend. Set two tressels 



tne oiner iu«i *»•** «* - — » -. 
distance from each other ; then lay upon 
them two or three planks, which will form a 
sta«-e with an oblique plane, upon which the 
car must be placed, with its head pointing 
to the higher end of the stage. 

A person may then get into the car, and 
sit a little behind the centre of gravity, 
which must be adjusted before the car n 
placed there ; being thus elevated, he will 
have depth enough on each side of the car 
to admit of his wings striking upon the air. 
He must then push the lever forward about 
eighteen inches from its perpendicular line, 
the tips of the wings will then rise three feet 
and a half above the level of their joints ; he 
must then, with a brisk exertion, pull the 
lever backwards, eighteen inches past the 



will be stiaick downwards, passing through 
an arch of seven feet ; and suddenly driving 
down and compressing the air in that al»ch, 
part of which will escape past the back edge 
of the wings (as I have described before,) 



matting ai n • b«uo «"" - •■ 

will push the' wings forward : ■ 

and the wings are first pla. r i on an oblique 

plane, they will be impelled forwards, making 

an oblique ascent. The projectile impulse 

6 



« 





9 



will naturally force the machine upwards in 
any angle in which the plane of the wings is 
laid, something similar to what may be ob* 
served in the raising of a common paper 
kite, except in a right angle, or perpendicu- 
lar line ; but the nearer the angle of ascent 
inclines to the line of the horizon, the easier 
will the machine be found to ascend. I be- 
lieve pigeons can ascend very near in a per- 
pendicular line, but such an ascent would be 
loo incommodious for artificial flying. 

When the car is brought to a sufficient 
altitude to clear the tops of hills, trees, 
buildings, &c. the man, by sitting a little 
forward on his seat, will then bring the wings 
upon an horizontal plane, and by continuing 
the action of the wings, he will be impelled 
forwards in that direction. To descend, he 
must desist from striking the wings, and hold 
them on a level with their joints ; the car 
will then gradually come down, and when it is 
within five or six feet of the ground, the man 
must instantly strike the wings downwards, 
and sit as far back as he can ; he will by 
this means check the projectile force, and 
cause the car to alight very gently with a 
retrograde motion. The car, when up in the 
air, may be made to turn to the right or the 
left, merely by the man inclining the weight 
oi his body to one side. 



When f have seen a man sitting in a chair 
upon a tight rope, with a table before him, 
spread over with decanters, glasses, &c. and 
by his dexterity alone, be able to keep him- 
self and all his accommodations exactly 
balanced there, while he sat smoking his 
pipe, apparently at perfect ease ; I have 
been induced to consider the art of managing 
a flying machine, compared with such a sur- 
prising display of human dexterity, to be 
very simple ; and see no reason why men 
should not become as expert in navigating 
the air as the sea. 

As some of my readers, who may have 
little regard for any thing but the utile, may 
be induced to ask, of what use will flying be, 
when it is attained ? I beg leave, in the way 
\>f reply, to give the following hints : — I hope 
it will be granted, that flying will be of great 
use, if by such means we can have our let- 
ters, newspapers, &c. conveyed to any part 
of the kingdom at the rate of forty or fifty 
miles in an hour; or if that numerous class 
of mercantile agents who are now denomi- 
nated riders, henceforth be enabled to glide 
through the air with great expedition, in fly- 
ing machines ; or if a man, by such means, 
can take a rope to any mariners in distress 
along the sea coast, and thereby become the 
happy instrument of saving their lives ; and 




M 



if the circumnavigator be able to quit his 
ship, fly and explore the interior parts of a 
newly discovered island, free from the annoy- 
ance and hostilities of its rude inhabitants — 
but it would be tedious to enumerate all the 
uses to which artificial flying may be applied : 
it is obvious enough, that when one man is 
enabled to fly, thousands may do the same, 
either on business or pleasure. It may tend 
greatly to reduce the vast number of horses 
kept in this kingdom, and by that means a 
very great quantity of land, which is taken 
up at present in growing hay, oats, and beans, 
for the support of Ihese quadrupeds, might, 
be then cultivated for the increase of our 
national stock of subsistence for the popula- 
tion ; and I think it is evident that we have 
great occasion to reduce the superfluous 
number of those animals, and to employ all 
the land we possibly can to grow corn, &c. 
for our own subsistence. It is not improba- 
ble, that some persons will ask, if flying and 
all this can be accomplished ; to which I 
answer, that if my scheme for attaining the 
art be deemed a rational one, as I hope it 
will, I think we certainly ought to try the 
experiment. 

After the perusal of this work, I hope my 
readers will be fully convinced, that all at- 
tempts which have been hitherto made in 



the art of flying have failed, not in conse- 
quence of the art being impracticable; but 
from the natural science of flying having 
never yet been fully understood. All that 
has ever been written, and all the experi- 
ments that have ever been made towards at- 
taining a knowledge of artificial flying by 
mechanical means, display a chaos of unset- 
tled thoughts very wide and deficient of the 
principles of nature ; but I hope it will be 
granted, that I have clearly discovered and 
demonstrated the whole of those principles 
upon which flying depends, particularly the 
cause of the projectile motion of birds. 
This is a discovery of the greatest import- 
ance, for as the air is continually acting, in 
the manner I have described, against the 
back edges of the wings, and Ihereby impel- 
ling the bird forwards with great force, it 
positively has as much tendency to overcome 
specific gravity as the expansion of the 
wings has. This is a fact demonstrated 
very clearly by my paper wings, and by the 
manner of flying peculiar to some birds, par- 
ticularly the woodpeckers. When one of 
these extraordinary birds ha« struck its 
wings once or twice upon the air, and there- 
by produced a projectile impulse sufficient 
to force it forward to a considerable distance, 
it instantly contracts its wings as close to its 
6 # 



sides as when perched on a bough, and con- 
tinues flying several yards with its wings kept 
close in that position, until the impulse is abat- 
ing ; it then throws out its wings again, gives 
another stroke or two to renew the impulse, 
shuts them up, and is again driven forward ; 
thus continuing to fly by distinct and separate 
projectile impulses alone. Here then we 
see the great importance of a true knowledge 
of the cause of the projectile motion of birds, 
for this surprising bird does not depend upon 
a continued expansion of wings, to keep it- 
self up in the air, but is kept up and carried 
forward by the projectile force alone! 

The green woodpecker is about the size 
of a pigeon, and as it is very common in 
every part of England where wood abounds, 
many of my readers may have an opportu- 
nity of observing its curious method of fly- 
ing ; the same may be observed of the beau- 
tiful little goldfinch, and of linnets. Here 
the physico-theologist, who is accustomed 
to contemplate the wisdom of God in all his 
works, might be led to infer that he has 
caused this deviation from the general 
method of flying, in order to demonstrate to 
us the effect of the projectile force, and that 
it is one of the greatest essentials in the art 
of flying, and perfectly distinct from, and 
independent of the continued expansion of 



When we see pigeons flying upwards in 
the angle of sixty or seventy, as we do every 
day, from the streets to the tops of houses, 
with the plane of their wings parallel to the 
line of their ascent ; I think they prove in 
a satisfactory manner, the great effect of the 
projectile force : for, without we admit this 
to be the cause of their ascending in such 
angles, how can we possibly account for it in 
any other way, upon rational principles ? 
Vide plate 4. 

A stone thrown by the hand, and a baH 
ejected from the mouth of a cannon, are 
made io overcome specific gravity, and fly 
to a great distance ; we all know that these 
are not kept up by wings, but entirely by 
the projectile force. In fact, it is by the air 
being made continually to push the bird for- 
wards, which constitutes the main cause of 
flying. 

We must attribute to a total ignorance of 
the fundamental principles, that the art of 
flying has not been brought hitherto into 
common practice ; for an art, so practicable 
as it is, must at any periocf of time have soon 
succeeded a discovery, such as I have made ; 
and now, that the art appears so very attain- 
able, I hope that every friend to arts and 
sciences will acknowledge that it ought to 
have a fair trial. 



I 



; 



I shall now conclude my treatise on hying 
With an appeal to the candour and good sense 
of my readers, whether the arguments I have 
used, and the principles upon which I have 
insisted the art of flying may be accomplish- 
ed, are not such as give it a just claim to 
their approbation ; for I think I may affirm, 
without being accused of arrogance, that the 
art of flying has never before been treated 
of upon such rational and scientific princi- 
ples.* 

* I will here take the liberty of communicating a few 
hints, which I conceive to be of importance to the aeros- 
tatic science. Now that we know the true cause of the 
projectile motion »f birds, and I having suggested a plan 
for producing the same effect by artificial means, we may- 
be able to accomplish what Messrs. Roberts, Blanchard, 
and others attempted to do, but in vain, entirely from 
their not possessing a knowledge of this mystery of na- 
ture. I am alluding to the steerage of balloons, which 
they endeavoured, with great labour to attain, by strik- 
ing a number of oars horizontally against the air ; and 
if we do but take into consideration that the balloon 
was constantly flying from the air against which they 
were striking, it does not seem probable that they could, 
by such means, produoe the effect they aimed at. 

But if we make a car from the plan which I have laid 
down in this treatise, and upon a scale large enough to 
admit one of Messrs. Mead and Co's new invented re- 
volving steam engine*, to move the lever with, we then 
can work, in a vertical iire.ction, a pair of very large wings, 
which would produce a projectile force suilicient to impel 
the- balloon forwards in any point of the campass to 



Having now submitted to the good sense 
of my countrymen, the whole of what I in- 
tended on the subject of flying, I .'or the 
present, most respectfully take my leave of 
them, indulging a hope that the prediction of 
bishop Wilkins, expressed in a former page, 
will soon be verified, and trusting that 1 shall 
not be disappointed in the opinion I enter- 
tain respecting the patronage which they will 
extend towards the invention now laid before 
Ihem. Encouraged by the public, I shall 
not abandon my purpose of making still fur- 



which we might incline it ; and by having a large tail 
fixed to the car, in an universal joint, we should be able 
to give it any inclination whatever ; and when we have 
thus effected a perfect steerage to balloons, we shall be 
able to convey a number of passengers to any place of 
destination with accuracy and safety. But for this kind 
of navigation the balloon must be much smaller than 
usual, and perfectly spherical, and the gas should be kept 
in such a degree as not to have too great a tendency to 
ascend — it should be so regulated as to float in equilib" 
rium with the atmosphere ; the aeronauts could then 
keep the machine at a moderate height — from fifty to a 
hundred feet would be high enough for ordinary sailing, 
and if it was found to be inclining too much upwards, it 
might be counteracted by holding the tail in a descend- 
ing direction. One of Mr. Mead's patent steam engines 
can be made with a one horse power, or equal to the 
strength of eight or ten men, that will not weigh more 
than eight stone; and will sland in the small space of, 
four feet by two, with the boiler and all the apparatus 
belonging to it, 



IT 



1 






their exertions to advance and compk.e an 
i art, the discovery of the true princi} les of 
which, I trust, I can with verity affirm 'o be 
exclusively my own. 



1 




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